"Dependency problems, leaving unconfigured" for many packages

Question

I'm using Ubuntu 16.04

$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: error processing package lightdm (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic:
linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic depends on initramfs-tools | linux-initramfs-tool; however:
Package initramfs-tools is not configured yet.
Package linux-initramfs-tool is not installed.
Package initramfs-tools which provides linux-initramfs-tool is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of accountsservice:
accountsservice depends on dbus; however:
Package dbus is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package accountsservice (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-generic:
linux-image-generic depends on linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic; however:
Package linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-image-generic (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of apparmor:
apparmor depends on initramfs-tools | linux-initramfs-tool; however:
Package initramfs-tools is not configured yet.
Package linux-initramfs-tool is not installed.
Package initramfs-tools which provides linux-initramfs-tool is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package apparmor (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-extra-4.4.0-53-generic:
linux-image-extra-4.4.0-53-generic depends on linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic; however:
Package linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-image-extra-4.4.0-53-generic (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-generic:
linux-generic depends on linux-image-generic (= 4.4.0.53.56); however:
Package linux-image-generic is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-generic (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of snap-confine:
snap-confine depends on apparmor (>= 2.10.95-0ubuntu2.2); however:
Package apparmor is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package snap-confine (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of snapd:
snapd depends on snap-confine (>= 1.0.43); however:
Package snap-confine is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package snapd (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ubuntu-core-launcher:
ubuntu-core-launcher depends on snap-confine; however:
Package snap-confine is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package ubuntu-core-launcher (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: too many errors, stopping
Errors were encountered while processing:
ifupdown
whoopsie
udev
unattended-upgrades
resolvconf
dbus
pulseaudio
libpam-systemd:amd64
initramfs-tools-core
dbus-x11
pulseaudio-module-x11
initramfs-tools
xserver-xorg-core
network-manager
ubuntu-drivers-common
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth
lightdm
linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic
accountsservice
linux-image-generic
gconf2
apparmor
linux-image-extra-4.4.0-53-generic
linux-generic
snap-confine
snapd
ubuntu-core-launcher
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
gconf2
Processing was halted because there were too many errors.

What should I do?

Answer 1

I got this problem upgrading from Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04. Posting my solution that might help other people visiting this page.

I tried to execute the following for every package that seemed to be broken.

dpkg --configure <package name>

While iterating over some dependencies the following message appeared:

debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked

This problem was solved following the answer to "debconf: DbDriver "config": config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable" while installing packages.

I removed the files described in the answer and

dpkg --configure -a

ran without problems.

Answer 2

In my case I had similar problem during upgrade from Linux Mint 17.3 (Rosa) to 18 (Sarah). I had an output like this:

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
 gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
  Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
 gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
  Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for gconf2:
 gconf2 depends on dbus-x11; however:
  Package dbus-x11 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package gconf2 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: too many errors, stopping
Errors were encountered while processing:
 gconf2
 gconf2
 gconf2
 gconf2
 gconf2
 gconf2

Byte Commander's comment hinted me to the solution. sudo dpkg --configure dbus-x11 complained that package dbus was not configured. So following that logic I did sudo dpkg --configure dbus and that seemed to do the trick. After that I ran sudo apt-get -f install and this time it ran without problems.

Answer 3

I had the same problem just type in this :

apt reinstall gconf2

This fixed it for me. I hope I could help you with this.

Answer 4

Got the same problem with Linux 19 Tessa

This worked for me:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure gconf2

Found in here: I encountered a gconf2 error while installing some packages, what should I do?

Answer 5

Just type in your terminal:

apt --fix-broken install

After sudo dpkg -i your_package_amd64.deb

In 99% of cases it will solve the problem.